Custom Tattooing Essay

Tattooing is an artistic form of creatively expressing ones beliefs, inspirations and/ or style through artworks on an individual’s body. It is a way of making a personal statement concerning him or her. I look at tattooing as an addictive practice that more often than not poses a health threat to its lovers. In my opinion, tattooing is an overdone fad that every Tom, Dick and Harry is fast adopting. It has nothing to do with creating a personal fashion statement but everything to do with mere mimicry. I strongly believe that tattooing is a habit that has very underlying issues to its practice. In 1976, there was an event that in Britain that would alter change the way people would look at tattooing. There were punks who invaded the reserved British with the sole intention of making a major statement. They came into Britain with a mission to disrespect them; they went to an extent of insulting the queen accusing her and her leadership of abuse on nuclear energy, pollution, work and media. They made very stunning statements which were however very informed. They came up with the trend of covering their faces and arms with tattoos; they further reinvented piercing through the use of safety-pins and studs in their noses, lips, eyebrows and cheeks. With this as the latest trend in their invasion, they brought about a charged self-image. They liaised with the media and collaborated to bring this trend to the forefront as symbols of decadence and soon after, exported these bodily arts throughout Their very own promoters conspired with the media they despised and turned them into symbols of decadence, before exporting their bodily aesthetics throughout North America, Europe and Japan.

Tattooing is simply an overdone fad whose consequences may be dire to an individual’s quest for corporate growth.

First and foremost, there are a million and one people who tattoo themselves simply because they have seen others do it or because they believe that it is fashionable doing so. According to Widdicombe, women like Angelina Jolie regret ever having tattooed the name of his ex husband on his skin, as such, I believe that she tattooed herself not at her own will or as a personal style but simply because she was either influenced with love or because she had seen other celebrities like Elisabetta who had a tattoo written “Eminem” which of course she later on regretted after they parted ways. According to Liatord, the larger majority of the people who tattoo themselves are merely pressured to fulfill the modern –day desire that is dictated by the discovery of self –knowledge and recognition from other people. He further asserts that they may go to an extent of invoking aesthetics, sex games, spirituality inter alia so as to fit into a said group. It is without doubt therefore that many people who adorn tattoos are simply influenced by the same mentality and in the process of changing the body comes the need to change identity as well.

It is an alarming issue in developing countries: this concept of Westernization has gotten into the heads of the moneyed few in Africa. Over the years, many of the people who look at Westernization as the standard way of life have always gone to an extent of imitating everything that they think is posh. They tend to imitate the images that they see in soap operas, many apply skin lighteners, hair straightening and breast implantation so as to look like those that they imitate, and this has been previously done by the African Americans in the United States. In Kinshasa for instance, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the moneyed sacrifice enormously so as to keep abreast with what they see as the latest trend in their Parisian counterparts. Just like cosmetic surgery, tattooing is a popular trend in these developing countries as many of the natives feel a sense of identity when they tattoo themselves like their heroes. It should be noted that as time goes by, tattooing has become a business of creating a hybrid model of the body meant for the privileged. There has been a global trend that has seen the popularization of the business of tattooing that is however facing very stiff challenges. It is apparent that there is a shift among the multitudes that has seen the altering of a process that was meant for medical purposes into a whole culture of carving in flesh. There is debate concerning what exactly are the rules, if any governing the human body.

It is even worse in the corporate world when one is tattooed. According to Trebay, an analysis of cases challenging the various perceptions and rules governing different business organization clearly points out the fact that it is not yet an accepted trend in the corporate world. Many courts have however found these rules as nondiscriminatory. For instance, in the case of Cloutier, a woman sued for wearing 11 earrings as well as eyebrow piercings in the course of duty. In her defense, she argued that they had religious implications. The courts held against her and this set a ground for other people to follow up on such cases. In recent cases, there has been continued employee activism according to a New Hampshire Lawyer Buskirk. Another factor that has had a major impact on the acceptance of tattoos in the work place is popular culture- this is according to Alexis in Trebay’s “Even More Visible Ink”, the proprietor of Alexis Baking Company. Although it depends with whatever company one wants to work for, it is a fact that traditionally, tattoo artists would not tattoo a client’s visible areas such as the hands and neck. According to Ms. Dembrow, in Trebay’s “Even More Visible Ink” there is indeed hard for one to get a job especially when working in a company where tattoos are not accepted.

Today however, the trend has changed and as a matter of fact, tattoos are becoming irrelevant in the corporate world and instead, focus has been shifted to the performance of an individual as it is noted by Liatord. The day when most businesses were blasé about visible tattoos on employees seems way off. It is however unique to few corporate companies that allow its workers to be tattooed, a majority of employers are still skeptical about the acceptance of tattoos in their corporate image. In this regard therefore, tattooing puts one at a risk of failing to get absorbed in the corporate world. The growing trend in tattooing is more of an absolute mimicry and an overdone fad at that.

There are however reasons why tattooing is not an overdone fad. According to tattoo designs a company specializing in tattooing, tattooing is merely a representation of a person’s true self .He is of the opinion that a tattoo speaks volumes about a person.- for instance swallow tattoos come in different designs where an individual has to choose from. This essentially implies that it is personal. However, the tragedy with this school of thought is that it assumes that everyone is knowledgeable enough to make a personal choice; it assumes the role of fashion in influencing personal choice of a tattoo style. I strongly believe that much as this may b a point to consider, it is yet to be an accepted fact that tattooing is personal statement more than an overdone fad.

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